Beast of Blenheim costs taxpayers $200,000

Stewart Murray Wilson. Photo / File photo

The release of convicted sex offender Stewart Murray Wilson less than three months ago has reportedly already cost taxpayers more than double it would to keep him imprisoned for a year.

According to figures released under the Official Information Act to the Dominion Post, the Department of Corrections has spent $209,313 on Wilson's release up until the 14th of last month.

By comparison it costs about $100,000 to keep a prisoner in jail for a year.

Wilson was released into a self-care unit on Whanganui Prison land on August 29, after serving 18 years of a 21-year sentence for sexual offending against women and girls including rape, indecent assault, stupefying, wilful ill-treatment of a child and bestiality between 1971 and 1994.

According to the figures released to the Dominion Post, the $209,313 bill includes the cost of Wilson's relocation from Rolleston Prison to Whanganui, the defence of legal action by Wilson and Wanganui District Council, and the cost of the self-care unit and the two-bedroom house Wilson recently moved into.

The new house on its own cost $164,383. However Wilson has refused to sign a tenancy agreement and pay the $100 per week rent, Fairfax Media reported.

Wilson told Fairfax Media the conditions of the release were a waste of money and the money should instead be given to him so he can start his life elsewhere.

"This is all over the top. It's an unbearable cost that doesn't have to be. I'm no risk at all."